I think Mat’s explanation of the company’s direction makes sense. There’s a funny New Yorker cartoon with a guy standing in front of his turntable commenting to a friend that what draws him to vinyl is “the inconvenience and the expense.” So when a small family-owned company tries to rationalize production and setup, they get bashed? I owned a HW19 Mark II with an SME IV arm. Probably should have kept it! But I sold it and now have a Classic 1. Couldn’t be happier. Sounds great, reliable, well made, easy to set up. Is there a better set up than using the VPI jig? Probably but it would require fiddly and expensive software (yes, I’m aware there are other static solutions). So celebrate VPI! Yes, the original post by its title sounded like “do you still beat your wife.”
What direction is VPI headed?
First let me state that I own a VPI Prime w/perifial ring, SDS, and a couple extra arm wands so I have invested some $ overall, this being my third VPI table, with that said I am a happy VPI customer but here recently have taken a few notes on their constantly coming up with the next iteration of what ever is moving well and I do believe the Prime is one of those. When they came out with the Prime Signature it was hard not to sell and replace with it but I didn't now the Prime Signature Rosewood is gorgeous but at $6,800.00, now when you get to that cost level I started looking used and have seen the prices dropping ridiculously low on a couple of HRX setups with all the extras for a lot less than that and they still aren't moving. I know there are those that speak of VPIs marketing from time to time but what is going on.